


Seeking Friends

by Xstone1



Series: Seeker's Chronicles [1]
Category: My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Genre: Alternate Universe, Confusion, Death, Depression, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Mystery, Time Shenanigans
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-29
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-05-29 21:01:28
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 9,751
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6393610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xstone1/pseuds/Xstone1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I like to think I am at least somewhat normal. It might be true that I'm a bit weird, but hey, who isn't. It comes with being human. We all are a bit odd in our own way. And as we get older, we get weirder. Therefore, I like to think I’m par for the course. However, after coming to Equestria and putting up with its residents. I fear what sanity I do have will be lost before long.</p><p>Takes place during Season 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Prologue of My End**

 

The sky was pitch black.

That was the first thought that popped into my head. There were no clouds, no stars, no light of the moon, just the darkness of the void around me. I couldn’t even see my hand in front of me.

I couldn’t even FEEL my hand.

_'Well, that’s not good.'_

I still knew where it was and decided to clap my hands together to confirm it was still there.

_**CLAP!** _

A weird numbed sensation passed through my hands as sound rushed the void only to be quieted down to a whisper and the sound of my breathing.

_'No echoes.'_

The way it quieted down was off. It was not there and gone like if it was outside, but it did not echo as it would in a closed room.

_'At least I got it on the first try and didn't smack my self in the face.'_

I stood there for a while to see if my eyes would adjust, but seeing that there was no light to adapt to I gave up on that plan. I then fumbled my hands into my pockets pressing hard to feel through the numbness to see if I find anything.

_'Nothing.'_

With nothing left to try, I decided to try my luck and picked a random direction to walk. I took a tentative step with my right leg to see if there was ground beneath me. When I did not plummet towards my death, I took another…, another…, and another.

I continued that pattern until I was comfortable with it and sure of the fact that there were not going to be any unexpected pitfalls.

Maybe.

After what felt like hours of randomly wandering around, I was thoroughly sure I was lost. The void was still surrounding me on all sides, showing no light on the horizon.

_'I don’t even know if I made any progress or not.'_

The thought occurred to me that it might be weird that I had not started to panic yet. The darkness seemed to have a strange calming effect on me.

_'Maybe when I get out of here, I can find out why.'_

_'That was what I was doing, right, getting out of here? I cannot seem to remember. Speaking or thinking of which, where was here anyway; and why was I here in the first place?'_

Walking around blind was not helping the fact that I was lost in many ways, but it was my only option.

_'At least in video games, they give you a torch or lighter. A flashlight would be so useful right now'._

I decided that there was no helping it when I lost my footing on my next step.

_'Shit.'_

I fell forward and plummeted through open air, towards the black void below me.

My heart started to race like a high tempo drum as whatever was keeping me calm stopped working.

Air rushed past my ears as my stomach lurched at my body’s increase in momentum.

_'Shit! I’m picking up speed!'_

I tried to swing my body around to get the most air resistance but ended up spinning out and making my already not happy stomach do backflips instead. It was not that bad, being that it was pitch black, but the fact that I could be falling to my death in an unknown place, where I’m sure people would not find my body, didn’t make it any easier to deal with. Also, the fact that I did not know when I would hit the ground didn’t help much either.

I frantically checked my pockets for anything that might slow my fall to a non-lethal speed. What I got for my efforts was a large smooth rock.

I stared at it blankly as I reached terminal velocity. It started to emit a soft glow, and I realized it was not a rock, but a crystal of sorts.

The crystal had a beautiful rainbow glow that would have worked as an excellent light source. Runes and pictures danced and changed on its face. Too bad it sure as hell was NOT in my pocket earlier.

_'Sooo would have been useful earlier, so I didn’t go falling into an abyss because I was walking blind!'_

_'Now! Now is the time I get a flashlight!'_

My rage started to build as my vision turned red. Then I realized it was just the crystal’s soft glow.

_'Great, it’s a mood ring as well.'_

I glared at the fucking thing as its soft glow turned blazing.

I aimed the stupid rock towards what I was sure the direction of the ground was in, and I hurled it with all my strength.

In my rush to rid myself of the thing, I momentarily forgot I was falling and proceeded to spin out again, but the sound of breaking glass 20 seconds later made it worth it.

It took only a second for me to process what that meant.

My next breath caught in my throat as I realized death was less than 20 seconds away.

Therefore, I did the only thing I could think of.

I righted myself and tried to relax as much as possible.

It did not help much.

The force of the impact against my head and the yanking sensation as I felt my body crashed through something putting me in a daze. It surprised me that it didn’t kill me outright. It only gave me a painful headache and made me see an unusually massive star. The second impact did not help the matter..., the third…, or the fourth.

When I finally stopped bouncing like a rubber band ball, I wished the first impact had done me in.

A numbing ache was passing through my limbs.

I leaned my head to the right to see and...

What I saw made my blood run cold.

Blood covered my right arm as the cuts mangled beyond recognition. Bits of bone and torn flesh were sticking out as well. My right leg was not doing so hot either, but at least, it was whole.

I turned my head to the left and…

_'Whelp, that arm’s gone.'_

My left arm left out its socket without me noticing. Blood pumped out of the wound in a slow, steady rhythm collecting in a small growing puddle. Also, the crash bent my left leg in ways no leg should and looked like it had been through a shredder. Oh, and my foot was missing.

_'That numbing thing must have kicked back in. Explains why I'm not screaming bloody murder. Wish it stopped headaches, too. I’m shocked I can think right now, let alone alive.'_

_'...Well not for long, if that large warm pool of blood I feel keeps growing.'_

I turned my head back to the sky ( _or ceiling, since I still didn’t know where I was)_ and started to see a star float towards me, strangely keeping the same light until it was above me. It was the only light source here, and I, at least, would like to know where I was before kicking the bucket, and what the light was, and why I did not see it on the way down.

_'Great, I am thinking in run-ons now.'_

The light seemed to be fading slowly, but there was enough to show that there was a gaping hole in it with a shattered glass plane connected to it.

_'Ceiling it was then.'_

There were bits of flesh that were dripping blood, connected to the poles branching out of the hole in the concrete ceiling. There was one pole with a weird chunk on the end of it. The light was fading fast from the area, but I saw what it was.

_'So that's where my arm went.'_

I started to chuckle at that but was interrupted by a heap of coughing. I had a strangely familiar coppery taste in my mouth. I turned my head to the side to spit, and sure enough, blood came out.

I turned my head back to the star, now much dimmer, as the cold from the absence of blood settled in.

I stared blankly at the light as recognition went through my pounding head.

It was that stupid crystal again.

It was floating about 15 feet in the air, growing dimmer with each passing second as it seemed to be moving closer as well.

_'I don’t think moving closer to the light and it getting dimmer is a good sign.'_

_'That or I’m losing my sight first.'_

Five seconds later, it was hovering over my head only shining brightly as a candle.

_'It’s a magic crystal.'_

A thought entered my mind, and a smile found its way on my face.

_'Shine bright like a diamond, Shine bright like a diamond, Shine bright like a diamond...'_

_'IT.'_

_'WAS._

_'NOT.'_

_'At least not anymore.'_

_'And how delirious does a person have to be to quote song lyrics on their deathbed?'_

While I was deciding how insane I was at this point, I noticed a change in the crystal.

It started to glow bright and emit the rainbow light again that…

_'It’s flowing like water.'_

The “liquid” light seemed to flow around my broken form, wrapping me in a tight net of light. I felt my body lift in the air as the light pour into me.

My head went berserk. Pain flowed through me and set a direct course for my brain. Years worth of constant hurt assaulted me in a never-ending onslaught, leaving me only able to scream my pain to the cold darkness.

The pain was not only physical.

Waves of emotion washed over me and into my very being. Intense sadness mixed with moments of pure joy. Unbridled rage combined with a relaxing calm. The most genuine love mixing with the vilest hatred. All of them were warring for dominance in my head until one won out, the sense of longing and a different pain that came with it. The feeling you get when you know you never get something back. Whenever it is something as simple as a toy, a pencil, or a day, or something as big as a friend or a loved one, or it could be a fleeting moment of something beautiful and extraordinary. It will leave a sense of pain and longing with you in its place.

Tears rolled down my face as I lost the will to scream.

The crystal was shining as bright as the sun now, giving off intense heat and nearly blinding me with its light. After what felt like an endless nightmare, I saw it shake violently glowing even brighter until it shattered into sparkling dust. Also, as it dispersed, so did the headache that came with it, leaving me numb and cold.

_'The hell?'_

I tilted my head towards the right again and saw my arm was glowing.

_'DA FUCK?!'_

I watched it for a while to see if it would do anything else, but all it did was fade a bit.

_'Why did I think it would heal or something. Just my luck it would glow and do nothing else.'_

I turned my head to face the ceiling again but saw nothing but the reaching darkness above me. It surrounded me on all side, slowly closing in like a predator. The whole experience got to me then.

I was so tired.

I could barely keep my eyes open anymore.

Dark tendrils came out of the darkness, slithering towards me as the central mass followed. It comforted with a delicious cold sensation everywhere it touched me, freezing the blood that still poured out my wounds while it hummed a soft song. As they lifted me slightly up in the air, my last thoughts trudged through my mind.

_'Death is like sleeping, right? I won't mind if I slept…_ _like this_ _…_ _for a_ _…_

The darkness covered me completely, as it lulled me into a deep sleep.

_Help us_ _..._

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

I opened my eyes to the dark room around me, my head pounding like a drum. I leaned forward to escape the uncomfortable trap the joint twin beds made to look at my alarm clock.

_5:15_

_'That mean I woke up fifteen minutes too early.'_

I heard the sound of a spoon hitting the bottom of the cereal bowl in the living room.

_Great, Mr. Michael still here._

I debated whether it was worth it trying to get that last fifteen minutes of sleep or not.

_'If I were not up in time, Mr. Michael would throw a shoe at me or something.'_

I glanced at the clock.

_'Screw it, the bus doesn’t get here until 6:45. Maybe if I were lucky, he would forget to make sure I’m up for school.'_

With that, I decided to test my luck and tried to get more sleep before the day started.


	2. This is the Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where the insanity starts and the fun begins.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I took way too long on this.

This is the Day

 

I quickly found out that luck was not on my side. Not only did Mr. Michael remember to wake me up before he went to work, but he did also throw a shoe at me. Fortunately, it was a sandal. Unfortunately, that meant it came near me when he threw it. Nothing wakes you up faster than a near make out session with a sandal.

_‘Well, I'm wide-awake now.’_

By the time I had scrambled out of the bed and fell to the floor, he had already left the room. I grunted, and I picked myself off the cold floor.

_‘Great, I now have a headache.’_

I glanced around my somewhat messy room.

I let out a long moan as I started to stretch to start the day. Then I preceded to fall right back on the bed, as I immediately felt light headed.

_‘Yup, it’s going to be one of those days.’_

I zoned out for a bit, snuggling into the warmth of the sheets but then decided I should pick myself back up and, at least, walk over to the clothes I laid out before Mr. Michael walks back in here.

_‘Glad I ironed these earlier. I don’t feel like ironing clothes right now.’_

I just finished putting on my jeans over my shorts when I heard the front door open then slam shut.

I was a little confused until I looked at my alarm clock.

_6:00 am_

"How long did I zone out," I mumbled aloud.

I turned and looked the bed longingly. It was a messy thing. It was two twin beds bunched together with its wooden mantle pressed against the window and blue wall, covered with mismatch sheets of old and new that didn’t fit or barely fit its new size and far too many pillows for an average person. However, it was so comfortable and warm during the winter, if you avoided the middle that is, and I never minded how god-awful it looked.

I suddenly felt drained. All I wanted to do was hop right into bed again. I glanced at the clock again.

_6:10 am._

I let out a long sigh.

_‘Time does not seem to like me today.’_

I turned away from the clock and picked up my shirt. It was an ordinary long sleeve black shirt. I put it on over my white t-shirt and necklace and went to get my favorite jacket out of the bathroom.

I walked out of my bedroom door, turned and opened the door on my left.

My bathroom is kind of on the small side. It was big enough to have the standard equipment. It has a bathtub shower combo, a toilet, a cabinet above the John, a sink, and a big mirror above it, but you cannot have more than two people in there without arranging them in a certain way and be comfortable. Well, unless one of them stands in the tub.

An old friend of the family had remodeled it about three years back. A tile floor with a slightly darker dairy cream color to it replaced the old floor. It also replaced the bottom half of the wall on the right, next to the sink and toilet and the entirety of the walls next to the bathtub. The lower half of the wall on the left, where the wheeled plastic drawer cart was, had retained the creamy wooden look it had before. Overall, it looked a lot better than it did before.

I turned to the cart and looked it over.

It was a large white cart with three drawers. A fire I caused melted bits of side making it look like a melted candle. It still worked, but we can never sell it without answering a few awkward questions. On top of it was a large plastic bowl. In it was some random junk, dog supplies, and on top of it, all was a black pleather jacket.

I slipped it on over my shirt and turned to look in the mirror.

My hair was still a mess. I never did put on that do-rag my mom bought me. That thing would give me a headache if I wore it too long (Not that it matters now). I got out my comb and started to fix my hair. I then put some lotion in my hair to moisturize it. By the time I was done, my hair had its waves and was soft like a cotton ball.

_‘Now mom would not yell at me.’_

I looked at my hair again to see if I made any mistakes. When I found none that I could see, I looked at my face as a whole. I wiped the sleep out of my eyes and washed my face. I saw my eyes wander to the scars on my forehead. They had become more noticeable since my skin has gotten darker over the years. However, they were still easy to miss if you were not looking for it, especially during the winter, but they are not going to blend in anytime soon.

I decided to brush my teeth after I ate breakfast, so I could taste my food correctly, and left the bathroom. I walked into the living room and opened the front door. The soft blue of the morning rays illuminated the room bringing with it some of the cold. Ice and mist covered the screen door in front of me, making me have to use my sleeve to wipe the glass so I can see outside.

When I finished cleaning the door, I was able to see the outside world covered in white. I felt my eyebrows rise as I took it in. It was too thick to be the sleet we usually get but not nearly enough to call snow. I opened the door and stuck my head out to gauge how cold it would feel today. The bright light made me squint my eye as I sucked in the chilled air and felt as if someone tried to shove ice down my lungs. A cloud of ice came out with the exhale.

_‘Yup, that's cold. At least, the air is clean.’_

I heard a mumble of curses and shuffling behind me.

I shut the screen door and turned to look at the room before me.

My eyes focused on the ugly cream couch and the cause of the noise. It was a human-sized cocoon made of some large blankets with a bit of short black hair sticking out the edge of it.

_‘Darrien.’_

I took my eyes off my bundled up stepbrother and looked at the room as a whole.

The living room was the biggest room in the house. The whole room was tinted blue or was in shadows. In it were two worn light cream couches that were against two of the walls with two end table with either a lamp or some pictures on each one next to them. Light brown wooden flooring, one dark green floral couch against the windows next to me with the matching arm chair in the corner next to it, a ceiling fan in the middle of the room, and a big flat screen TV sitting on the top dark brown coffee table under it against the side wall.

It was the most decorated and nicest room in the house in my opinion. If we ever replace those ugly couches, though, the living room would look even better.

I shook my head and walked into the kitchen.

The kitchen was the second largest room. Originally, it was a lot smaller with a wall splitting it in half where the table is now, but that was before the renovation. Now it had marble counters, Sahara sunset-colored walls, a new tile floor that connected to the dining room (same as my bathroom), a dishwasher, which I am not allowed to use, a new sink, a built in microwave and stove, a refrigerator, a deep freezer, and cabinets galore.

Now that I look at it, the house has changed a lot over the years. Mostly because of repairs or necessity, but it was still a lot.

I was going towards the cabinet near the microwave to get a bowl when I froze.

A ring filled the air. A soft alarm not heard but felt ranged in increasing volume through my mind. The blood rushed into my ears with a growing roar. I felt my clothes more acutely with the chill that washed through my body. My instincts were telling me something was wrong but not what. My body was demanding to act as I gritted my teeth.

Danger.

Then it passed.

I turned on a heel and stared at the doorway.

Nothing happened.

_‘Huh. What was that abo…’_

“STERLING!”

I jumped, my hands moving on their own to pulling a knife from its holder to use as a weapon. The dishes and the room itself were shaking from the sudden movement.

After a moment, I put the chef's knife back into its sheath and took a deep breath. I felt something brush against my heart and focused on how good that felt and not on the urge to flip the table in front of me. My body was starting to itch from the increase in blood flow, but I focused my thoughts.

_‘Mom is up.’_

My body was still begging me to start screaming and to sink my teeth into something to fill that pit that was now in my stomach, but I calmly ignored it.

_‘Jesus, it’s not usually this bad, and when did I start reaching for knives.’_

With something new to focus on I walked to the other side of the kitchen, into the dining room, took a left down the hallway towards my Mom's room. 

My Mom's room was, well messy is not accurate, more like full. The amount of stuff in the room gave it a cluttered feeling even though you can walk around in it and everything had a place. A queen-sized bed took up most of the right wall. Next to it was a dark wooden nightstand with three drawers. On its wall was a picture of Devon and me along with a bunch of other kids with the Harlem Globetrotters, an image of me in a football uniform, both when I was younger, and above the bed post, a starfish I gave her. At the foot of the bed were tubs and baskets of clothes that came to my shoulder. On the wall connected to the door was a dresser with a mirror. The left wall had a tall dresser with five drawers and a flat screen TV on top of it. It was on but muted and cast a soft blue light and shadows on the room and my mother.

My mom can be your best friend or worst nightmare; it depended on what mood she was in and how you treat her. She had light golden brown skin, curly black hair, looked about to be in her early twenties and stood about 5'3 with shoes, though that did not stop her from staring down the inmates at her job. She looked particularly young wearing her Minnie Mouse pajama bottoms and one of my old graphic t-shirts she likes to steal. She was actually in her mid-thirties, and it showed when I realized the fact she was glaring at me through her glasses.

“Come here,” she said in a leveled tone.

I stepped forward until I was at the side of the bed.

Mom looked at me in the face and smiled.

"You remembered to brush your hair," my mom sang switching to a high-pitch tone instead.

_‘Oh dear god.’_

“Did you put in cream?” she thankfully said in her normal tone of voice.

"Yes, ma'am," I replied.

“Did you wash your face?”

"Yes, ma'am."

“Did you wash your ass?”

“YES!” I yelled.

Why does she always do this?

“Watch your tone.”

Why this.

“Let me smell your yuck?”

"I haven't brushed my teeth yet!"

“So your breath would knock the curls out my hair?” She said in an inquiring tone with a raised eyebrow.

“Mom!” My cheeks started to heat up.

“Sterling?” she asked with a smile on her face.

"I like my food to taste good," I exclaimed.

“Just wash your mouth out with water.” she deadpanned

"It's not the same," I said under my breath in a way that certainly did not come out as a whine. My mom giggled at me anyway.

"Did you, at least, iron your clothes?" She said when she finished.

I gave her a look, took a step back and gestured at my clothes.

“I can't see. Your big head is blocking the light.”

I sighed and walked over to the light switch and flicked it. Bright light flooded the room casting out the soothing shadows.

“Iron your shirt again you did a half-ass job.”

“Really!”

“Really Sterling, really. And you better not miss that damn bus and Sterling.”

“Yes."

“Don’t be mad.”

“I’m not.”

I turned to walk into the hallway.

“Sterling!”

"Yes," I called back.

“I love you more than peanut butter and chocolate,” sweetness filling her voice.

“I love you too.”

“You better.”

"I know," I said as I walked into the dining room.

The dining room is the smallest of the main rooms. It shared the same tile floor of the kitchen, but it had retained the white coloring of the walls it originally had, there were also no walls separating the two. In the middle of the room was a big round brown table with miscellaneous items of all kinds on top of it. It ranged from old mail to bolt cutters and hammers. It was a rest stop for the random things that do not have a place, use too often to have a proper place or one-offs that we have not gotten around to throwing away because they might become significant.

Against the wall next in front of the window was a tall TV cabinet. It was made of what looked like birch and had two doors that rolled in and out of its slots on the side next to the old TV, and there were two smaller doors at the bottom. Well, if the right door does not fall off because of the crack down the length of it, if it opened.

Next to it, on the left, was a rolling small light brown entertainment stand with the iron on top of it and the right was the ironing board.

I walked to the little stand and grabbed the iron from it and then to the ironing board.

After stripping and re-ironing my clothes to my mom’s approval, I walked back to the kitchen and looked at the time on the stove.

_6:30 am_

“Fifteen minutes left,” I groaned.

I contemplated if I should grab something to eat and decided it was not worth the risk.

I rushed back to towards my room to get fully ready.

When I got to the room to search for my shoes, I heard a roar go past my window. I leaped to the other side of the bed to look out the window and saw my bus rolling by.

I cursed under my breath and looked more frantically for my shoes. It took two minutes to find them, a pair of beaten up pure black Nikes that somehow got underneath my bed. I put them on, grabbed my black backpack and phone and walked out the bedroom door.

I woke up on the floor.

My headache was coming in full force with my now ringing ears. I felt something running from my nose. I got off the ground, cupped my nose, and then proceeded to walk into the bathroom.

I pushed the switch and saw a gore fest. Blood covered half of my face and part of my neck. Fresh blood was still dripping from my nose and now stained my right hand.

“Gah!”

I leaned over the sink and peered into the mirror to get a closer look at the damage.

Half my face covered in peeling dried blood, with parts of my hair had a red tint and matted while my eyes were bloodshot was not something I was expecting to see. A nosebleed may be but not all this.

I leaned back and gave my best-crazed smile. The blood somehow got in my mouth and covered my teeth. I looked like I just took a bite out of someone's neck like a vamp. I then gave my best Hannibal Lecter impression (Which failed miserably).

After I had finished acting silly, I grabbed a washcloth off the shower rod and started to wash my face in the sink.

Thankfully, none of it got on my clothes, but it did get in my hair. While I ran the rag through my hair, I got my phone out my pocket to look at the time.

_7:00 am_

I stared at the phone blankly as I considered what that meant.

“Scheiße.”

        

I walked out of the bathroom to peek in the living room.

Besides the fact that the light was on and other than the distinct lack of a lump on the couch, the room was the same.

“Dude left without me.”

I turned my head towards the spot where I fell.

There was an unnervingly large puddle of blood where my head used to be. It looks like it was still runny so it could not be that old.

_‘Why would I start bleeding way after I hit the floor? It should be at least congealed by now. The floor is cold too.’_

I decided to file it for later and focus on the problem at hand. Well, "Problems." I still need to get a ride to school.

_‘On the other hand, I can skip today under the fact that I’m randomly passing out and leaking blood.’_

I considered that option for a minute until I started to feel blood running out my nose again. I sighed, and I walked back to the bathroom to take care of it. I wiped my nose again and then stuffed it with rolled up toilet paper, then I fetched the mop out of the kitchen and set about cleaning up the blood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After chewing me out for missing the bus, mom told me to get Jasmine to drop me off, which was why I was standing in front her door waiting for her to answer. She lived across the hall from me. When she finally opened the door, I was treated to the sight of my bed headed step-sister.

Jasmine is Mr. Michael's 22-year-old daughter who started to live with us a few months ago. She was slightly lighter than I was in skin tone and a few inches taller and probably weighed more as well. Not that it was that hard. Her body type was a bit sticky with some curves, and she felt frail when you hugged her. Her hair was a mess of curls since she just got out of bed. She was wearing a pink t-shirt with green lettering and matching panties. I decided not to focus on that for obvious reasons and looked her in the eyes instead. There was nothing unusual about them, but they were a darker shade of brown than mine were. Moreover, by the slight glare, she was not happy I woke her up.

“What.” Her voice was slightly scratchy, but that was normal for her.

I cleared my throat and mumbled in a small voice, “I missed the bus.” I smiled at her sheepishly to soften the blow.

She continued to glare as she realized what that meant. She then sighed and closed the door in my face. Well, I say close, but it was more akin to a soft slam.

_‘Well, that went better than expected, usually if I miss the bus she would complain a lot more.’_

With nothing left to do but to wait for Jasmine, I went over all my stuff and waited on the couch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It took a bit for Jasmine to come out of her room. She was tremendously slow. It was around 7:20 when Jasmine finally got out of the room and rushed me towards my mom's car and on the road. By the time she got me there, the first bell had ranged, and I had to rush to my first class.

Ozen was a kind of a weird school once you thought about it. At least, the people who work and attend there were. The large open campus had outside walkways connecting the divided section going from A to E with a large field in the middle of it with smaller grass plains where there was no concrete. The whole school length was about a mile long and just about as wide. Now that I think about it, it would probably explain why the school swung between states of peace to all hell breaking loose. Sometimes it was both depending on where you were at a given moment. Word of events can spread like wildfire or die as soon as it ends. I remember a time when a swarm of ninth graders came running down C hall as if someone had released attack dogs on them and scared everyone else to start running, but no one in any other halls knew about it until I told them.

Then again, I am not the most social person here, but I have friends in just about every group regardless of grade level so I should at least be able to hear about them. Even the teachers gossip about the students here.

Anyway, the school had a majority black student body with Hispanics and people of Asian descent sprinkle everywhere. I think at this time around four to maybe eight white kids are attending here. Opposed to the middle school I went to, which had them as the majority. Most of those kids went to Central or Westbrook respectively. Alternatively, they could have moved out of town.

My first class, U.S. History, was in “A” hall and thankfully close to the front of the school.

However, as soon as I stepped out of the car, a chill rocked my body back on its heels by hitting me square in the face.

_‘Did it get colder?’_

White snow did cover the large lawn that dominated most of the school, but it should be a bit warmer by now not colder.

“Hey!”

I jumped and whirled around towards the noise.

Jasmine was making a shooing motion with her hand.

I closed the door to the car, and she drove off.

With that, I walked towards my class down the concrete walkway with the rest of the students.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My headache was still progressively getting worse by the time I got to the new science building for 3rd period. It felt like someone was drilling from the back of my head to my eyes at this point. I thought about asking to go to the nurse's office earlier, but then I remember they are useless. Therefore, I asked one of the girls I knew for a Tylenol before class.

Chemistry had to be my least favorite subject this year. It was math, patterns, and formulas. In theory, it should have been the most interesting class I had since it’s the science of changes in reactions and blowing stuff up. However, the class was more boring than watching paint dry most of the time, and I have watched paint dry. Then again, I might have watched too many Mythbusters episodes, and that could have colored my opinion. It might have led to why I'm barely passing this class with a C even with cheating. Lack of interest and procrastination always prevented me from getting good grades.

Snow still covered the school, and some of the breezeways were coated in ice. If I didn't know any better, I would say the snow was thicker than before, but there were no clouds out today.

“Morning Dew?”

“Huh.”

I turned and saw that Dylan was walking behind me looking at me curiously.

Dylan transferred here from Tennessee at the beginning of the year but started to fit in nicely. He was a few inches taller than I was and had an athletic build. His skin was still a bit on the white chalk side, but you can contribute that to it being winter. Short blonde hair and green eyes with a friendly smile, it’s surprising that he does not have a girlfriend. He was currently wearing a black long sleeve jacket with zipper pockets on sides and button ones on his chest, dark blue jeans, and black snickers.

He was also a good friend of mine and was willing to go out in public with me.

“What?”

“You said something.”

”Oh.” It didn’t think he heard that. Most people ignore me when I ramble out loud unless I say something funny.

“Nothing man, just thinking out loud that’s all.” I scratched my neck as I felt my blood rushing up towards my face.

He gave me a concerned look then just shrugged and smiled.

He said, “Okay, see you inside,” then walked off ahead of me.

I sighed and stepped to the side of the breezeway and looked at the snow again. I knew I would get some looks since I was standing in the cold, but something was nagging at me.

_‘Not like I haven't done weirder.’_

A blanket of pure white snow unblemished by any markings or footprints covered the field before me. Which in itself was odd. There should, at least, be some marking on it. It was near the freshman hall and the cafeteria. Someone should have walked in it by now or had a snowball fight since it rarely snows in Beaumont. Hell, there's not even dirty snow near the concrete it was still pure white and flat.

Flat.

I looked around and saw the whole field was perfectly flat. No uneven snow in sight. Not even under the sloping roofs.

A chill went up my spine as I observed this.

_‘That cannot be natural.’_

I jumped a bit as I heard the warning bell ring and flushed.

I have been watching too much anime. I sure it’s nothing to worry about, probably.

_‘That's how it starts out and then BAM! It's magic and lasers flying everywhere, and you are wondering what the hell is going on.’_

I let out a small chuckle and paused when I saw that no one was outside.

“What the hell am I doing?”

I turned to walk inside the building but not before eyeing the snow for one last time. I bent down and reached my right hand to make a mark in it.

A chill went through my clothes freezing my body and making my headache rage. It was like someone took the spike from earlier and started to hammer them down further.

I gritted my teeth and tried not to collapse from the sudden pain. The light reflecting off the snow was burning my now sensitive eyes.

I was going just to draw some random squiggles, but if something did not want me messing with the snow, I had a message for it.

I calmly and forcefully wrote that message in the snow despite the pain it caused. It was so cold it felt as if someone was trying to rip off my fingernails despite my gloves.

I stood and squinted my eye to take a good look at it.

“ _FUCK OFF YOU GIT_ ” was displaying proudly in defiance of the flat surface. I made sure I wrote it messy too, but I was a little confused about the wording. I did not know why I choose those words, but they just seemed to fit.

_‘Probably watched too much of the Yogscasts. Those guys are starting to affect my speech pattern. BBC is probably not helping much either.’_

With that, I turned and ran to class before the late bell could ring and ignored the angry howl of the sudden wind behind me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The medicine finally started to kick in halfway through the course. Changing the tearing pain, into to the bearable pounding it was this morning. Moreover, because I spent half the class in silent agony, I might have to cheat off of Dylan again if I was going to pass the assignment the teacher gave us.

I do not like cheating off of him. I run the risk of getting caught and both of us failing every time I do. And, he gives me a disappointed look when I ask. Thankfully I understand the course well enough that I only need a few answers to understand what to do, and I can do the rest on my own. I would be lost with no hope of passing this class if I did not.

My eyes were still sensitive from the abundance of light getting in the room. I could not turn my head back in fear of getting blinded by the light coming in through the giant windows that covered most of the back wall and the corner.

I had to blink my eyes continually just to see what was on the paper before me. Chemical formulas and equations danced around in my vision, blurring, flowing, and spinning on and off the page.

“Yeah, no way in hell I'm going to be able to finish this,” I closed my eyes again before I started to feel sick and flipped the paper over. Thankfully the teacher was not paying attention to me, or she would have called me out earlier. Which means I could pretend that I finished my work and let my eyes adjust with little consequence.

I was rubbing my eyes with my palms when I felt a tap on my left shoulder.

"You all right man."        

I turned to see Dylan giving me a look. I was about to say I was ok, but a lance of pain cut me off. I gritted my teeth and tried to focus my eyes again. Dylan was giving me a panicked look then his eyes steeled.

"You need to go to the nurse. Like right now." His tone was firm and left no room for debate.

"Fine."

_‘It would not hurt to make the token effort. It would get me out of this class as well.’_

So I raised my hand to ask if I could go to the nurse's office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was surprisingly easy to convince the teacher to let me go to the nurse's office. Apparently, she was paying attention to me after all, and she was waiting to see if I would say something.

I did not know how to feel about that.

Anyway, she gave me a pass, and I was out of the class. I was still not expecting the nurses to be able to help me, but I might be able to take a nap or something.

My head was clear at the moment, and I was tapping the pass against my leg and looking in the other classrooms. I didn’t see anyone I knew which meant some people were ditching today.

_‘Maybe I should have joined them.’_

I continued walking down the hall again when a chill went down my spine. My whole body froze as I felt like something was breathing down my neck.

I bit down a scream and jumped forward while turning to check but no one was behind me.

I stared at the space in front of me and felt my hand cover my face.

_‘Why did I jump? I could have just turned around like a reasonable person. But no, I had to jump at shadows and shit.’_

I was beginning to wonder how much of this was in my head. That didn’t stop me from getting the hell out of dodge and outside but still I should not be this jumpy.

Once I cleared the doors, I felt as if a weight was taken off my back. It was not doing anything good for my growing paranoia, but it felt nice.

That was until I felt a pang of dread that made my next step falter. I felt my legs give out as the weight from before slammed into my back.

My knees hit the concert ground and slipped as they slid on the new ice below me forcing me in an impromptu split. I managed to catch myself with my hands only for the weight to move forward and slammed my face to the ground.

The pain from earlier was mild in comparison to what I felt now. A high pitch ringing filled my head as my vision turn black.

I felt something warm and wet on the back of my neck as my vision cleared. It quickly cooled and started to burn a little. I tried to get up and wipe it off, but I was slammed down again.

This time, it was accompanied with a “growl.” The word “growl” didn’t do it justice, but it was the closest thing I could think of to match it. There is not a word for a sound that makes the earth shake, the air hot and electric, and make 15-year-old boys piss their pants and scream. And then proceed to bang the heads against their nearest hard object violently in the vain hope forgetting that soul tearing sound but only after they rip their ears off and gouge out their eyes to never see or hear the thing again. Let me know if there is a word like that. I would love to add it to my vocabulary. So I could tell my psychiatrist in the mental ward later.

Unfortunately for I didn’t have the luxury of the later much less the ability to scream since I was still being pinned by whatever the hell made that…

_Noise_.

I felt hot air on the back of my neck.

I froze.

I felt something wet and slimy trail up the back of my neck and a pricking sensation on the sides. It felt as if someone had thrown acid at me and just like that I found the ability to scream.

My headache skyrocketed as an image burned into my head and felt the weight being thrown off with a surprised yelp much likes a dog’s.

I slowly got up dazed but relieved. My head was feeling better than before as if some of the pressure was let out.

I heard the “growl” from before again and couldn’t stop my skin from crawling.

I could not help but turn to the source of the noise.

It gave me the impression of a wolf. It reminded me of my wolf hybrid I have in a twisted sort of way. The stance it was in was the same one she would do when she was angry but wary of something. That was until it moved. The resembles transformed from dog to cat mixed with a spider. The later was most likely helped by the fact it had six legs.

I probably should describe this thing. I’ll try my best in the least gut wrenching and mind breaking way possible.

The base of it was a wolf or a large hound. On all six it came up to my chest. It had six legs with the two in the back looked as if they belong on a lion. The ones in the middle looked as if they were on loan from a large ugly crab thing and were spiked with liquid dripping off of them that melted the ground where it touched. The front two were a mixture of raven black scales and fur with clawed paws at the bottom. The structure looked canine in nature. The rest of it shared the mix of scales and fur except the middle section which had a navy blue reflective exoskeleton to match its middle legs. It had a tail as long as my leg and looked as if it would cut me if I touched it and had a glass blade at the end. It also had two tentacles popping out of its back that thrashed about in its oozes. The head was the worst of it. Not because it was gruesome but because it looks the most normal, but not. As if someone tried their best to create a wolf’s head but just missed the mark. The head was a little too broad and long, and the muzzle a bit too short and narrow. There were too many eyes. It had eight eyes that were lined in two rows. Each a different color and shape. Some were reptilic, and one looked like a goat's eye. The last two looked far too human for this thing. It’s teeth were needle-like in shape at the tip and expanded to the width of my thumb and had far too many in its mouth.

The only thing not wrong with its face was its nose. It was a regular black wet nose that you would see on any normal dog. It only added to its creepy factor. Add the fact the amalgamation of parts tried but fail to flow seamlessly together doubled it.

It was also wounded. It was bleeding from the side. Its blood was a dark red that was near black that ran in a river from the cracks and cuts along its body. Some of its furs looked singed its right middle leg was curled to its body, and back leg had a chunk missing and was shaking.

_‘What happened to it?’_

I eyed the creature; it seemed content to stare death at me for the moment, and I took this chance to think of what to do. I was shocked was not run, which was my best bet since two of its legs were injured, but to change in and kill it.

I felt myself growl at it. It hobbles back a little.

I wanted to kill this thing and damn the consequence. Just looking look at the thing pissed me off and if I had to find to blow up the school to do it, I would.

That scared me for two reasons. One, my first thought after realizing I wanted to kill it was bombing the school. That was overkill for damn sure and should not be my first thought. How would I even do it anyway?

My head started to hurt again as my brain went ahead to find the answer.

_‘No. Stop.’_

It began to minimize at once.

Make that three reasons.

The original second reason was that its ears had not stopped twitching since I laid my eyes on it. And if it is anything like a wolf, that scared me.

Its ears sudden snapped straight, and its whole body went stiff.

Its head shot up and left a full volley of barks that shook the earth. As literally the ground started to shaking as it began to cry out.

I lost my balance and fell back to the ground with a cry. I felt some trickle down from my ears. I raised my hand to it and felt it was warm and sticky. My hand came back red.

The urge to change in and try to kill the damn thing only rose.

The thing stopped barking suddenly and started to hack up some of its blood, and the concert began to dissolve in a sizzling mess. Its tail curled underneath it as it tried to look as small as possible. Its eyes looked terrified started shaking violently and whimpering.

I stared at it completely baffled. It didn't last long as it dawns on me, a bit slowly, that something was coming and it terrified it. It wasn't even bothering to run. Which meant I needed to get the hell out.

Fast.

_‘Or it could be one of those situations that running gets you killed sooner.’_

Regardless, I got to my feet and was about to make my best impression of a bullet when I noticed something.

The thing stopped shaking and was staring at something.

Right.

Behind.

Me.

I slowly turned around and looked down.

Right at the spot where I wrote in the snow.

Except my words were gone. In their place were four new words. Written carefully, neatly, and boringly in the snow, but contained untold hatred.

_Make me little Theif._

Terror flooded me and me I made an impression of the dog earlier.

“What?”

With a crack, the snow rose up with a sudden burst wind and turned the courtyard into a blizzard. The accompanying howl roared through the area bouncing and magnifying off the walls of the nearby buildings. Cracking glass and crunching snow were the only things piercing the wailing.

My body froze at the sudden storm. The wind and cold tore past my clothing chilling me to the point my bones ached. I tried to move, to get back inside where it was warm but my body still refused to budge.

_‘Move damn it! Move!’_

My left hand twitched and that was about it.

I heard the creature bolt with a cry only to listen to a roar of pain and the sound of tearing meat and shattering bone a moment later.

I felt my stomach drop as my joints lock up. My hands and feet felt as if someone unleashed pissed off fire ants upon them as the blood retreated. My face and ears were burning with a sharp ache as if something was clawing them off. A copper scent filled my nose as something wet trickle down my face faster than it could freeze. I tried to scream, to let someone know I was out here, but it was strangled before it got out my throat. It was getting hard to breathe.

_‘So this is how I die. Frozen in shock while being frozen five feet away from the damn door with something out there that can scare a thing from nightmares.’_

I continued to stare forward at the blinding light of the snow. My eyes were starting to water at this point and the water turning to ice as they ran down my cheeks.  

_‘Not the way I would have picked, but it seems I have no choose in the matter.’_

I felt my lips sluggishly curl up to a smile. The fear that was consuming me earlier turned to indifference. Then, I heard the metal groan above me and that smile turned to a satisfied grin.

_‘Or I can be crushed by overstressed metal. Would be less painful and a less terrifying way to go.’_

If I were not already being frozen, I would have chills at that thought. Dear God how can I be so calm about this, and why can't I stop smiling. Hell, I felt like laughing.

I felt my left hand twitched again as something brushed against it.

Then I felt something wonderful.

Warmth blazed in my left hand and rolled over the rest of my body. Energy flowed like liquid fire in its wake, wiping away the fatigue and finally clearing my head. The snow slowly melted off my clothing and turned into steam. My whole body felt electric and giddy. The laugh I felt earlier came in full force, and I started to giggle. The giggle turned into a laugh which only grew in volume. I closed my eyes and just reveled in it.

The storm seemed to falter as if unnerved by the sudden laughter. The sound of breaking glass and crunching snow stopped. The howls died as soon as the warmth started in my hand making the only sound left my laughter.

I wiped away the tears that were starting to well up and open my eyes to see the courtyard again. What I saw was as terrifying as it was beautiful.

The hundreds of thousands of snowflakes were frozen in the air interconnected with bright cracks that seemed to form a complex glowing web that appeared to encompass me in a dome and reach past the sky itself. The whole thing had a shattered glass quality to it and made the sky look distorted. I turned in a circle with my jaw hanging lost in it as a small voice in the back of my head screamed.

Then I noticed something and I felt the sudden joy switched to curiosity.

The cracks were shifting.

While the snowflakes would stay frozen in the air, the cracks themselves were moving in different patterns. Every time my eyes lock on a particular area, the rest would change and freeze in a different style when I looked back.

I felt my eyes burn and the headache coming back in full force as I continued to stare. The warmth that was flooding me with power and joy was beginning to wane, and the cold was trying to set its teeth back in.

I tore my eyes from the spectacle and focused on the ground so I can move.

It was a mistake.

The cracks were not just in the air but the ground. The image of the shattered concrete and ground below it began tearing my mind apart with its wrongness. Sickness overtook me as I forced my eyes close again and emptied the contents of my stomach on the ground.

The power was gone, and I was at the full mercy of the cold and the things within it.

**Author's Note:**

> Let the games begin.


End file.
